1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of automatic call distributor systems and more particularly to such call distributor systems which remotely communicate.
2. Description of the Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 C.F.R. .sctn.1.97-1.99
Automatic call distribution systems employing a multiport switch controlled by a central processing unit for selectively interconnecting a plurality of external telephonic units of an external telephonic network with internal telephonic units of the call distribution system are well known. Examples of such call distributor systems are shown in patent application U.S. Ser. No. 07/770,197 of Jones et al. entitled "Multichannel Telephonic Switching Network With Different Signaling Formats and Connect/PBX Treatment Selectable For Each Channel", filed Oct. 2, 1991; U.S. Pat. No. 5,140,611 of Jones et al. entitled "Pulse Modulated Self-Clocking and Self-Synchronizing Data Transmission and Method for a Telephonic Communication Switching System", issued Aug. 18, 1992 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,127,004 of Lenihan et al. entitled "Tone and Announcement Message Code Generator for a Telephonic Switching System and Method", issued Jun. 30, 1992.
It is known for automatic call distributor systems to communicate with each other from remote locations. Automatic call distributors often answer thousands of income producing calls in a single day. In an automated call distribution environment, such as in the telemarketing industry, seasonal variations in the number of incoming telephonic calls affects the proper size of an automatic call distributor center. Large increases of call volume may be answered. Due to the physical space limitations, employing additional agents at internal telephonic units of the call center facility is not always possible. Accordingly, to overcome this problem, it has been known to send the incoming calls to a call center facility to another facility at a remote location.
Catastrophic occurrences at a local automatic call distributor system sometimes result in the need for quickly establishing automatic call distribution communication centers at remote sites. If flooding, fires or the like at a local automatic call distribution center ruin the internal telephonic units necessary to handle incoming calls, or makes the facility uninhabitable, the call distribution center cannot be used to handle calls from the external telephonic network even though the switching equipment at the center is still functional. Disadvantageously, in known automatic call distributor systems, communication connections between a local site and a remote site are done through the use of expensive copper wiring connections which are time consuming to install.
In known automatic distribution systems, communication with remote locations is done across a dedicated T-line. A T-line is a digital transmission link with a capacity of 1.544 Megabits per second. A T-1 line uses two pairs of twisted wires and can carry twenty-four voice conversations, each one digitized at sixty-four Kbits per second. Channel banks produced by a variety of manufacturers such as Pulsecom and Charles Industries, provide a channelized access to individual channels on a digitally encoded T-1 line. A channel bank is a multiplexing device which puts many slow speed voice or data conversations onto a single high-speed link such as a T-1 line. When the channel bank is equipped with circuit cards manufactured by companies such as American Telephone and Telegraph or Adtran Inc., both Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) circuits and data terminal connections are possible over the copper wire T-1 line from the automatic call distributor. The installation of T-1 lines, though, presents a number of financial and logistic problems.
The installation of a hard wire T-line, done by a telephone operating company, is achieved by interconnecting two locations in a point to point arrangement. Upon payment for the installation, a monthly access charge is accessed for use of the line. Logistically, the time required to set up T-1 lines for call center use negatively impacts the financial earnings of the call center. Thousands of income producing calls may not be answered for each day of installation of the T-1 line. Therefore, communication with remote locations is both time consuming and costly in known call distribution systems despite the presence of ISDN standards and hardware.